Stay Tuned: The best scenes in ‘Game of Thrones’

Melissa Crawley More Content Now

Tuesday

May 14, 2019 at 10:00 AMMay 14, 2019 at 10:01 AM

As “Game of Thrones” comes to an end, this week’s column takes a break from its regular format to celebrate one of the best shows on television. Throughout its remarkable eight seasons of epic storytelling, it created some of TV’s most memorable moments. Here are my picks for the series’ best scenes.

The pilot episode, “Winter Is Coming,” set the stage for the show’s major storylines - the unease between the Stark/Lannister/Baratheon families, the introduction of the White Walkers, Daenerys Targaryen’s (Emilia Clarke) three dragon eggs - but it was Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) pushing Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) out of a tower window after he saw Jaime and his twin sister Cersei (Lena Headey) in bed that screamed this was no ordinary show.

“Baelor” (Season 1, Episode 9) once again showed us the unexpected, as no character was safe, even a beloved one. In a surprising scene, Ned Stark (Sean Bean) lost his head, despite being promised mercy if he confessed to treason.

In “Fire and Blood” (Season 1, Episode 10) Daenerys placed her three dragon eggs on a pyre and walked into the flames. She walked back out hours later, unharmed and with three baby dragons. The Mother of Dragons was born.

Glowing pregnant bride plus Robb Stark (Richard Madden) divided by one angry Walder Frey (David Bradley) equaled the Red Wedding. More happened in “The Rains of Castamere” (Season 3, Episode 9) but it was the slaughter of the Starks at Robb’s nuptials that had everyone who watched the shocking spectacle talking about it for days.

Balancing out all the deaths of good guys was the satisfying death of a very bad guy. In “The Lion and the Rose” (Season 4, Episode 2), Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson) finally got what was coming to him when he was poisoned at yes, another wedding. This time, his own.

There was something visually terrifying about The Night King (Richard Brake) and his quiet power to reanimate the dead. He took it to the next level in “Hardhome” (Season 5, Episode 8) when he stared down Jon Snow (Kit Harington), raised his hands and thousands of dead wildlings rose to join his army.

No mercy was found in “Mother’s Mercy” (Season 5, Episode 10) at least not for Cersei and Jon. Broken and defeated by the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce), Cersei’s hair was chopped off and she was forced to make a naked walk of atonement through the streets of Kings Landing. Jon died alone after repeatedly being stabbed by a group of his fellow Night’s Watch men. (His later resurrection was some consolation).

“The Long Night” (Season 8, Episode 3) was the 82-minute end to the White Walker war. Putting aside Theon Greyjoy’s (Alfie Allen) final redemption, Jorah Mormont’s (Iain Glen) last sacrifice for Daenerys and Arya Stark’s (Maisie Williams) masterful murder of The Night King, the episode belonged to Lyanna Mormont, the Lady of Bear Island. Played by Bella Ramsey, Lyanna, who was first introduced in the sixth season, was a tiny tour de force. Screaming a war cry and rushing toward a giant, her death scene was a fitting end to her story. Melissa Crawley is the author of “Mr. Sorkin Goes to Washington: Shaping the President on Television’s ‘The West Wing.’” She has a Ph.D. in media studies and is a member of the Television Critics Association. To comment on Stay Tuned, email her at staytuned@outlook.com or follow her on Twitter at @mcstaytuned.

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